The largest study to date of postpartum depression has found that one in seven women experience symptoms of depression after childbirth.

Published in JAMA Psychiatry by theAmerican MedicalAssociation, the basic finding is consistent with past prevalence estimates however, the study’s follow-up evaluations of women at risk revealed especially serious symptoms.

Approximately 20 percent of the mothers with depressive symptoms were experiencing suicidal thoughts. Among those who were followed for a full year, 22 percent experienced severe depression.

In the study, 10,000 mothers who gave birth at a Pittsburgh hospital were contacted by telephone and screened six to eight months later for symptoms of depression. Fourteen percent were identified as being at risk. Approximately 60 percent of the at-risk group received follow-up home visits. Another 11 percent completed diagnostic interviews by telephone

Forty percent of the women’ symptoms began postpartum. Thirty-three percent were assessed as having begun during pregnancy and 27 percent beforehand. Follow-up evaluations most often resulted in a diagnosis of depression with a co-occurring anxiety disorder.

The study calls for all pregnant women and new mothers to be screened for depression, beyond what current medical practice requires. It also emphasizes the need for “strategies to differentiate women with bipolar from unipolar disorders.”

I just watched the David Lynch film Eraserhead for the first time in over ten years. This latest viewing made me think of my own family, specifically the severe postpartum depression my mother suffered after my younger sister was born.

Eraserhead is possibly David Lynch’s least watchable film. If you aren’t accustomed to viewing postmodern art house cinema, it can be a painful experience. But if you commit to it, and you’re familiar with psychological trauma, it may resonate with you. If you have any experience with postpartum depression, it will definitely strike a chord.

“Psychosis is typically considered a medical emergency so professional help should always be sought. Until the help arrives, however, it’s important to be calm, protect everyone’s safety, not argue, and remove excess stimuli from the environment.”

“There is an undeniable organic component to mental illness, just as psychological and social conditions are inexorably linked to mental well-being. But like the Democrats and Republicans, these two approaches are often pitted against one another, often leading to that old, tiresome nature versus nurture debate.”

“Where once people pursued normality through efforts at self-reform, now they proudly redraw the map to include themselves. In this context, diagnostic labels confer inclusion in a community. Today, an emotional or behavioral state can be understood both as a disorder and a unique perspective.”